I took another car here to see if anything had changed after 3 years. I was sad to find that nothing had, it was still the same mess it was the first time. To give you an idea, here is what happened....
Summary- poor communication, took almost 8 hours, not a very good job (could have done the same or better myself). Caused damage, charged 3 times what they quoted.
*edit- I was eventually contacted by them and offered a refund by check, even though I paid by credit card, after I posted my initial review on google. Three weeks and 5 phone calls from me later, I had to go back to the shop and physically pick it up but I got it.*
Long version:
I spoke to Brett (owner) on Tuesday or Wednesday to see when they could get my car in. I really just wanted some minor clean-up prior to leaving town: the all-weather mats cleaned, carpets vacuumed, windows cleaned and outside washed. I didn't need a full inside detailing and didn't want any kind of waxing or protectant on the outside or windows b/c the car has ceramic coating. I explained all of this, and he said they could do it Thursday while I was at work (I couldn't get it there because I have to be at work before 7am) or Friday morning at 9am. Friday was my day to sleep in, but I said I would go ahead and get up early to bring it in. I asked how long it would take and he said about 2 hours. I asked if they had a place I could stay and get some work done while they had the car and he said they would set me up in the conference room. Brett could not have been any nicer and I had really high hopes for the place.
Friday I arrived at 9am and went through the car with Brett again, then went inside to wait on it. I left for about 2.5 hours with my mom and came back. The car was not finished until 408, and then only with me telling them I was taking it and leaving at 330 because I was supposed to be leaving town at 6.
I asked several times for an update while waiting but the people inside the office couldn't be bothered. I had to go find my car and ask what was taking so long myself (again office staff couldn't be bothered) at 330. Come to find out, not only did they not start until almost 2pm (they took TWO cars in before me) but they did a FULL DETAIL on the inside! He even put some kind of conditioner on my mats when I specifically asked them not to! Now my mats are all squeaky and annoying! If they are ruined I will be asking for them to be replaced, I have a call in to the manufacturer.
They wanted another 10 minutes on the windows and 30 to wash. I said just do the windows and give me my car back. I'm leaving. I will run it through the no-touch wash on the way home and it i will take 5 minutes and $6. On my way out some other guy (can't remember his name, he gave me his card later) tracked me down and said he guaranteed it would be done by 408 (it was 338) if I would let them finish. I agreed against my better judgement. At 408 I met them in the parking lot. They charged me $200 instead of the $75-$100 I was quoted. I threw a fit and they brought it down to $150.
When I checked my car over I was even more furious than I was before, which I didn't think was possible. There were places that had not been dried off, leaving water spots (could have done that at the car wash) and the windows were all streaky (could have done that myself). The console & cup holders looked like they hadn't been touched and was dusty- I wiped that off myself (so much for "we did a full detail" as the time excuse). I mentioned the mats- they were clean but now obnoxiously squeaky. The front window had speckles all over it from whatever they used. The inside of the doors had not been washed and there was still soap on the car. I brought all of this up, the guy had the kid come back and go over the doors and clean up the soap. They ended up taking it back down to $100. I left, unhappy, and intent on never returning. After paying I also noticed a scratch on my dashboard, the owner was "no longer there". I called on Monday and never did get them to do anything about it because there was "no proof" they did it. Really? How should I have known to take pictures of every inch of my car before having a professional detail it?
The front window speckles all later proved to be impossible to see through when driving into the sun- seriously dangerous b/c it caused such a glare so I had to pull off the road and RE-CLEAN the front window so I could see. Basically, I spent 8 hours there for them to halfway do what I asked (half of which I had to redo myself later), scratch my dashboard, and have them do a crappy job on the extra stuff they did which I had told them not to do. read more
